90% of people believe level of anxiety in Irish society is worrying

Nine out of 10 people in Ireland believe that there is a worrying level of anxiety in Irish society and six out of 10 are afraid of experiencing mental health difficulties in the future, a new survey on attitudes to mental health and stigma has found.

About seven in 10 people also said that being treated for a mental health difficulty is still seen as a sign of personal failure, according to the survey of a nationally representative sample carried out for St Patrick’s Mental Health Services between June 24th and July 5th of this year.

“We saw a massive increase in anxiety in adults and children during Covid and it won’t disappear overnight. It is being sustained by economic challenges and the challenge of learning to deal with so much change over two years,” said Paul Gilligan, chief executive of St Patrick’s Mental Health Services with regard to the findings.

The online surveys, which have been carried out annually over the past five years, also found that people became more open about discussing their mental health during the Covid-19 pandemic than they were before the pandemic.

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Eight out of 10 people surveyed said that they believed people in Ireland were more open about talking about mental health difficulties since the onset of the pandemic. And six out of 10 people said that they were more comfortable talking openly about their own mental health than they were before the pandemic. Nearly half of those surveyed in 2022 had also introduced new ways to manage their wellbeing since the pandemic began.

“The response to Covid was more engagement with the outdoors and nature and more tolerance of the need for psychological wellbeing. And a lot of this has continued, which is fantastic,” said Mr Gilligan.

The pandemic also signalled an increase in parental concerns about their children’s mental health, the findings suggest, with 71 per cent of parents saying that they were worried about the issue compared with 57 per cent in 2019.

“Parents worried about their children’s mental health more over the pandemic, which is not necessarily a bad thing as it reflects a growing awareness of the importance of children’s mental health,” said Mr Gilligan.

The results suggest fewer people kept secret their addiction to alcohol, drugs or prescription medicines in 2020 than in 2018. Twenty-six per cent of people said that they wouldn’t tell anyone about their addiction in 2018 with the figure halved by 2020 but up to 17 per cent this year.

“The danger is with the return to a productivity focused society that psychological wellbeing won’t be to the fore. Self-stigma is a challenge and we know that by reducing stigma, we can positively impact on people’s openness to seek support when required,” said Mr Gilligan.